No Longer Nobody
by KiraSakura
Summary: I will always remember that earsplitting scream of anguish and pain that echoed throughout the halls. It was something truly inhuman, a sound of pure regret. Riku was in so much pain. [Naminé POV][SoRiku, slight SoKai, slight Namiku]


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts I, II or CoM. Tetsuya Nomura does.

**Warnings: **…angst? **Told from Naminé's POV **

**Author's Note: **Ok, so I stuck this in the RikuSora setting (?) because it IS a RikuSora…just told from Naminé's POV. Meh. Whatever. I need to get my computer Kingdom Heartified. My spell check doesn't like it when I write KH stuff. Psh. Annoying thing. This has been floating about my head all day, even when I was watching Mr. Janitor climb up into the roof in my mum's staffroom at school. So I had to get it off my chest and on to HA! SEE THAT, AME!! I fixed it for you! And now it isn't as Namiku as before.

The finished sentence was for Mentally Insane Fangirl!

**OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

_I've seen some horrible things since coming into excistance. I've seen comrades murder comrades, I've seen a person who merely wanted to be real, not a copy, disappear. But the most horrific, the most frightening, would have to be his smile. I've never seen something so broken, so torn, before. Every time he smiled, every single time, I somehow felt that he didn't mean it. Which is true, I think. He had been strong, once, but he had had his heart torn from him, and smashed into a hundred little pieces. He had watched the very person he loved, the very essence of his smiles, turn against him, replace him. His heart broke a little then, the edges crumbling away. Then he discovered that the people he thought he could trust were simply using him. A fracture of his heart cracked, and shattered. Then he was locked inside a horrible, horrible place, with nothing to rely on except a mouse he barely knew. Another piece snapped, and fell away. When I first met him he still had a little of his heart left. But then DiZ showed him the room where his love slept. And then he broke. _

_I will always remember that ear-splitting scream of anguish and pain that echoed throughout the halls. It was something truly inhuman, a sound of pure regret. _

_I think, after that, he tried to fix his heart. But pieces were missing, shards too broken to mend. A person can have a heart or no heart; not in between. It causes too much pain, too much sadness. Most people wouldn't be able to handle it. But he…he took his broken heart, and using what he had, moulded it. He became half-full, half-empty. He was broken and fixed, shattered and rebuilt. He was stuck in between, stuck in a limbo that showed him nothing but pain. It must've been like torture. _

---

At first I couldn't really do much without Sora's Nobody. He was a vital piece, so I spent a lot of time just drawing random pictures. Riku would often sit with me, watching me with his unseeing sight. I was shy at first. He was this strange enigma, who was silent, and not really there yet there. Being with Riku made me feel both safe and scared, but one day, out of the blue, he turned to look at me, and he said, in this soft, soft voice, "Do you want to go out for awhile, Naminé?"

I squeaked, and dropped my crayons. The corners of his lips twitched, and he stood up, helping me collect my crayons. He reached out, and took hold of the sky blue one, the one I used to colour Sora's eyes. He held it in his hand, staring down at it, even though the blindfold obscured his sight. Then he murmured, "Can…Can I keep this? Please?"

Blinking, I wondered why on earth he was asking me. DiZ treated me like I was a pet, he took whatever he wanted from me. Most people - beings - I met did that to me. Yet, here was this broken boy, asking me for permission.

"Um…sure" I answered, packing away the rest of the crayons. He thanked me, and pocketed the crayon. He then turned to walk out, and I stood there, not sure of what to do. He paused at the door, and turning around said, "You coming?"

I eeped, and nodded. I rushed out after him, and I followed him down the stairs and into DiZ's study. The old man looked up from his computer, frowning when he saw me there.

"What is it, Riku?" He asked, his golden eye showing confusion. Riku motioned towards me, and said, "Naminé and I are going to out for a walk"

DiZ nodded, and turned back to his computer. Riku then strode past him, and into the pod room. I wandered after him, passing Donald and Goofy, and then entering the large room of perfect white. I watched as he walked up to the pod, staring at the sleeping boy inside. He pressed his gloved palm up against the glass, and whispered, "I'll be back soon"

I didn't understand what he was doing at first, but then I watched as he continued across the room, over to where a small white box sat. He opened the lid, and motioned me forward, while dropping the crayon in there. Starting, I hurried forth, and he said to me, "Do you think you could draw me a picture, Naminé? Of me and Sora?"

Once again he was asking me, not demanding, and I felt grateful for that. I nodded, and he smiled. It was small, broken, but it was a smile none-the-less. "Thank you, Naminé"

It was the first time anyone had said thank you to me.

---

Every afternoon he would take me out. I started to look forward to those trips. He would take me to the clock tower, and we'd get ice-cream. Sometimes he took me into stores, where the people gave him wary looks. I watched as he bought me a pretty dress, made from silver silk and with white trim. I tried it on, and he said it looked good, even though he couldn't see. But he _could_ see, I think. Not with his eyes, but with his heart. Then, one day, while sitting in my White Room, humming lightly and adding the finished touches to Riku's picture, he came in, and he smiled at me. In his hands was a small box, wrapped in blue and pink striped paper, a small yellow ribbon on top.

He walked over to me, and placed it in front of me. I blinked, and looked up. "What's this for?" I asked, curious. He sat down next to me, and explained, "It's Kairi's birthday today. And since you're part of Kairi, I thought maybe we could celebrate it - but as _your_ birthday. I've made reservations at that restaurant you wanted to go to, too"

I stared at him, shocked. And even though I didn't have a heart, I knew, just _knew_ that this warm, blossoming feeling inside of me was joy. I burst into tears, and sniffling whispered, "No one's ever…nobody's ever cared…before…thank you…"

He smiled at me, and I noticed that it was quite as broken as before.

He dragged DiZ out as well, and it was one of the best night's I had ever had. When I opened the gift, I gasped. Inside, sitting on the cotton wool, was a small choker of white satin, a small, silver heart in the centre. I knew what he meant by it, and that made me _feel_.

He was saying that to him, I had a heart. That I wasn't nobody, but somebody.

And that I had helped to heal him a little.

---

I gave him the picture before he left to fight Roxas. It was of Riku and Sora holding hands, sitting on a sunny beach. Kairi was nowhere in sight, and I knew he was thankful for that. He smiled at me, and said, "Thank you very much, Naminé"

He placed it in his box, and then he turned to leave.

---

We had to leave. Roxas was on his way here, and we had to go. Riku - Ansem - stood in the small, white room, staring with golden eyes at Sora. He smiled softly, and turned to me.

"Naminé, come here, will you?" He asked me. I walked forward, he said, "Could you get my box?"

I fetched it for him, handing it over. Quietly, I asked, "What…what's the box for?"

"It's for Sora. I want him to know that I'm still here," He answered, placing the box in front of the pod. I blinked, about to say something, when he said, "When you have something you hold dear to you, something so precious, and perfect, never, ever, ever let it out of your sight, Naminé. Because chances are that someone else will see it, and steal it away"

I knew he was referring to when it had been just him and Sora, and then when Kairi had spirited Sora away. I also knew he didn't really resent Kairi for what she did.

He then added, "Thank you, Naminé"

---

My Other, with the blood red hair and purple blue eyes, smiled at me. She looked like me, in a way. I smiled back, and glanced over to Riku. What I saw next made me smile properly. Sora had grabbed his hand, and was clutching it like Riku was going to run off again. But I knew he wasn't. Riku had his light back, and it was shining fully, not through the tiny cracks of that pod.

"Thank you, Naminé" Kairi said. I nodded, and I heard Sora murmur, "Yeah. Thank you so much"

I felt something inside of me bloom, and I knew that I could feel, that I was feeling something that was going to bring me so much pain in the future. I realised that I loved Riku.

But Riku loved Sora, and Sora loved him back, I could see. Kairi had turned into a hassle, I think.

Riku walked forward, and smiled at me. That smile, though, was worth all the pain I was going to receive. It wasn't broken anymore, or torn, or twisted. It was _perfect_.

"Thank you, Naminé"

That was the last time anyone thanked me.


End file.
